10 Striking Sci-Fi Book Covers

Let's face it: The vast majority of the time, it isn't the title or premise of a book -- especially a science fiction book -- that draws us in. It's the cover art. And sci-fi has a long and venerable history of cover art that catches the eye and turns the head, even if what's inside hasn't always lived up to what's on the outside.
Here's a gallery of 10 of our favorites, from classic painted cover art to the modern-day trends of Photoshop-plus-stock-photo work that in the right hands can also b

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Say what you will about Robert A. Heinlein's "sex and Jesus" novel, as he himself called it, but "Stranger in a Strange Land" garnered a cult following for its author. Its original cover art featured a Rodin sculpture, but later reprints were radically different. Best of the bunch was the beautiful "underwater" cover, courtesy of James Warhola --Andy Warhol's nephew, and a prolific sci-fi illustrator to boot.5

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